PURPOSE: The main purpose of this study was to compare the clinical competency in different instructio nal methods for funda- mentals of nursing practicum, standardized patients methods story as text method ,and traditional lecture/model method. METHOD: The study was designed as a quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control group post-test design with three separate classes of sophomore students attending fundamentals of nursing classes at one baccaleureate nursing school located in metropoli tan Seoul area. Control group was taught by traditiona lecture/ model method and two experimental groups were taught by standardized patients method and story as text method. Data were collected from September, 1999 to June 2001. There were 36 students in the standardized patient method group, 38 students in story as text group, and 40 students in the control group. Data analysis was done using SPSS WINDOW 9.0. RESULT: The results showed that the standardized patients method and story as text method groups were significantly better in clinical judgement and communication skills than the traditional lecture/model method group. The standardized patients method group was significantly better in clinical nursing skills performance than two other groups. However, there was no significant difference among the three groups in student satisfaction. CONCLUSION: The standardized patients method is an effective in teaching clinical cometency for student nurses. It is necessary to explore more efficient way to develop standardized patients cases for wider areas of nursing education. Also, it is recommended to develop more research projects with many nursing programs.